


Meet the Krafts

by Eris_historia



Category: Know Not Why - Hannah Johnson
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Meeting the Parents, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 13:12:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8981155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eris_historia/pseuds/Eris_historia
Summary: Arthur take Howie to meet his parents for the first time. It goes... well... it goes.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [katewonder](https://archiveofourown.org/users/katewonder/gifts).



> I love this book and when I saw your prompts, I wanted to write you something for this fandom! I hope that you enjoy!

Arthur wiped his hands nervously on his pants. Howie was coming over shortly, and then he was going to meet Arthur's parents for the first time. It... probably wasn't going to go well. Not that Arthur doubted Howie, but well, he had a tendency to put his foot in his mouth sometimes with the things that he said. He was also very much the opposite of Patrick, and the type of guy that Arthur usually went for, the type of guy that his parents would find acceptable.

 

Arthur's doorbell rang, jolting him out of his musings of how everything could go wrong. He opened the door to see Howie in considerably nicer clothing than he usually wore. Clearly, Howie was trying to make a good impression on Arthur's parents.

 

 _Well,_ Arthur thought, _at least I'm not the only one who's nervous for this._ He stood to the side to let Howie in. Howie entered and turned to Arthur, asking, “Do I look okay? Your parents aren't going to, like, throw me out of their house, right?”

 

Arthur had to work to suppress a smile at Howie. “No, I do not believe that they will. And you look perfectly acceptable.”

 

“Acceptable isn't good enough! I need to look like the best-dressed mother-fucker ever to compete with Douchey Patrick!”

 

“Still with the 'Douchey Patrick'?”

 

“ _Yes_! He was a douche, but probably someone who your parents loved, so he's the one I'm going to be compared to.” Arthur gave a small _hmm_ in response to that.

 

“What? What was that for?” Howie asked.

 

“Well, I wouldn't necessarily state that my parents loved him. He _was_ male, after all,”

 

“Even worse then. If they didn't like him, then I have no fucking chance,” Howie said.

 

“Please avoid the use of profanity around them and they will at least tolerate you,” Arthur responded. “Now, it's time for us to leave, or we are going to be late and trust me, _that_ will not make a good impression.” He turned to grab his jacket from the coat rack by the door, and as he closed his fingers around it, he felt Howie's hand on his arm, turning him around.

 

Howie put his arms around Arthur and said, “I will apologize in advance for anything that goes down tonight. If you wnnt to stop this right now and prevent the carnage that's about to happen, just say the word.”

 

“You are adorable,” Arthur said, giving Howie a kiss that quickly evolved into something far more heated than they had the time for at the moment. “Now, we really must go,” he said as he broke out of Howie's embrace and grabbed his keys from the bowl by the door.

 

* * *

 

“So, Howie, what is it that you do, exactly?”

 

Arthur could visibly see Howie swallow as his father asked the question. He spoke in a much more careful tone than normal, “Well, sir, I'm an English major at the local college right now.”

 

“And what exactly are you planning on doing with that?” Arthur Kraft, Sr. asked.

 

“Flounce off to the forest to live and muse on the failings of man?” Howie responded. Arthur could tell the moment that it hit Howie what he had said, and what was now a familiar feeling to Arthur rushed over him as he once again had to hide a smile, especially as his mother and father didn't seem to know quite what to make of Howie. “Sorry, I'm... not exactly sure why I said that,” Howie finished lamely.

 

Apparently Arthur's father decided that the best course of action in this case would be to ignore Howie's kneejerk response and continued on with his questioning of Howie.

 

“And now you work at the store with my son, is that correct? As his employee?”

 

“Um, yes sir?”

 

“Dad,” Arthur broke in, “You don't need to interrogate Howie. Yes, he's my employee, but we knew each other vaguely from school. Howie was a few years behind me, and his brother and I were on student council together.” Arthur knew that he was slightly exaggerating how well Howie and he knew each from high school, but his parents didn't need to know that. Especially as they kept looking as though they needed to protect Arthur from being corrupted by Howie. Corrupted in which way, Arthur wasn't entirely certain, but that was the look that they had.

 

“Your parents are fine with you having a relationship, with your boss, who is older than you, and is a man, and with having no real sense of purpose in your life?”

 

“Dad!” Arthur exclaimed, “I'm serious. Can you stop with this?” He could feel his left eye begin to twitch, the same way that it usually did any time that he was with his parents. Howie didn't deserve this, especially since Howie's mother was so wonderful and easy-going. Arthur was certain that Howie was about to get up and walk out at any moment, due to how uncomfortable it currently was.

 

“Arthur, I'm just trying to get to know Howie a bit better. There's no need to be offended and upset,” Arthur Kraft, Sr. said.

 

“We do want to know about who is in your life, Arthur,” his mother said in a conciliatory tone meant to soothe him. “Your father is just trying to bond with Howie.”

 

“It's fine, Arthur,” Howie said. He turned to Arthur's father and said, “I'm pretty sure that my mom is fine with me. She's an English professor, and my dad's dead, so I'm thinking he probably doesn't have an opinion either way. Besides, my mom has my brother to pin her hopes and dreams on, so really, she's absolutely fine with me.”

 

Arthur's father at least had the grace to look slightly ashamed as he looked down at his plate of food, redness crawling up his cheeks. His mother simply looked at Howie and said, “I'm so sorry about your father, dear.”

 

“It's fine,” Howie mumbled. He was blushing as well, and began picking at his food with renewed vigor after he had stopped eating to answer Arthur's father's interrogation. Arthur reached over and gently squeezed his knee, drawing a small smile out of Howie as he looked over at Arthur.

 

Arthur's mother seemed to decide that it was up to her to salvage what was left of the evening. “Arthur. Howie. Let me show you our photos from Hawaii! We took more pictures of the beach again this year.”

 

* * *

 

Arthur and Howie made it back to Arthur's apartment with minimal tension between them and Arthur's parents for the rest of the dinner. As they walked in the door and removed their coats and shoes, Arthur was the one this time to reach out to Howie and grab his arm. Howie turned to look at him with a questioning look on his face.

 

“I'm sorry about my father tonight,” Arthur said. He wasn't certain that Howie would welcome the apology, but felt that he had to say it anyway.

 

“It's all good,” Howie responded. “Not the worst I've experienced from people. Besides, I'm sure I didn't help at all.”

 

“You were fine,” Arthur replied. He led Howie over to the sofa for them to rest and decompress after dealing with his parents.

 

Instead of responding, Howie leaned over and captured Arthur's lips with his own. As the kiss became more heated, Arthur allowed himself to be pushed back until he was laying on the sofa with Howie on top of him.

 

“Let's not discuss your parents anymore,” Howie said between kisses. “You're kind of ruining the mood.” And with that, Arthur had to agree.

 


End file.
